Licuanan Appropriations August 4 2014

8/12/2019 Licuanan Appropriations August 4 2014

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PARTIAL AND PROVISIONAL TRANSCRIPT

AUDIO RECORDING OF HOUSE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS HEARING

BatasangPambansaSouth Wing Annex Building

4 August 2014,

DR. LICUANAN: Mr. Chair, I just should respond, at this point, to some of the issues,because I am equally confused and very frustrated, because we really thought we were

trying our best to, to do what was right. Let us let us look back historically. We had a

system. The PDAF system was there . It harmonized with CHED, we, we,cooperated

with the is this on? We cooperated with the Congressmen who were given their PDAF

allotment, and we helped them distribute the the scholarshipgrants and, in a way that

was pretty much satisfactory. It may not have been a perfect system but it was there. It

was a system weve worked with for many years. And then

CONGRESSMAN RUFUS RODRIGUEZ: May I object to that because that is not true. That

is not the situation during the PDAF. The PDAF did not pass the CHED.The PDAF went

directly to the state universities so you have no, you have no totally totally no

intervention. Well in my case, it has... I think most of all or all of us because when wegive our when we give our menu ... to the committee of Cecile here, it was very clear,

the SARO, you cannot ask the money we gave it to the state univ ersities. There was no

problem even when the CHED, because there was no more PDAF then you can go to

the CHED. But I would tell you. That we submitted to the Speaker last year. So this is not

a post intervention. Before before the, the budget was approved, we already, the

Speaker already gave you already our allocation. Is this not correct? Because we gave

our lists, we gave all lists last year on how on how to allocate the 14 million. You see.

So you know let me continue that I just tell you there is mostly no intervention byCHEDwhen PDAF was alive because our SARO, the SARO given goes directly to the

schools, to the public state universities and colleges, exactly the situation. So now the

only landmark declaration is now, and we do not have to question that precisely

because there is no more PDAF, it is to the CHED. And then we submitted allocations so

therefore there is no such thing as post because this is submitted by the Speakers office


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and the Committee,the Appropriations, given to you before December. And so very

clear nasabiko that is why in the other, in the other departments, madam chairperson.

In the other departments, na-download na.Ang DSWD na-download nasa regional office

saka central office, angaming, angaming DOH nasa hospital na.Nandyannalahat,

walatayongproblemadyan. Now, bakitsainyohindi pa na-downloadditosaaming schools which were submitted to you by Sherry long time ago?

CONGRESSMAN ABU: Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman. Parliamentary inquiry, Mr.Chairman, parliamentary inquiry.

CHAIRMAN UNGAB: Yes, what is the inquiry all about?

CONGRESSMAN ABU: Anopobayungmga rulings natinpagdatingsaganitongklase ngexecutive session? Dahilpinalabasnatinang media kaninadahil executive session

ito.Dahilbakamamaya may makalampastayoditonasasabihinnatinnahindinamankaiga-

igayasapandinig ng ibanatingmgakasama, ay anobaangatingruling dito?

Bakamamayapaglabasdiyan,mayroongmagpa-interview diyan, nayun,pini-pressure

nanaman ng mga congressman ang CHED. Ginigisananamanang CHED

dahilhindimasunodsila. I think Mr. Chairman we should clarify to ask the ruling.

CHAIRMAN UNGAB: This is an oversight committee hearing. So, it is inherent in the

legislative powers of Congress that we can act as an oversight body especially for funds

that are also that are basicallypublic funds, and again I made it clear early that the

legislative intent is very clear is that scholarships must go on

CONGRESSMAN ABU: Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman, the confidentiality of executive

session?

CHAIRMAN UNGAB: Well of course, executive session. The rule isconfidential

talagapagsinabinating confidential.

CONGRESSMAN ABU: What if a member, what if a member of the Committee on

Appropriations or the Oversight Committee or any of, any of his staff after na, after nghearing eh lumabas at magpa-interview at dini-vulgekung anoangnangyayaridito, what

would be the sanctions?

CHAIRMAN UNGAB: Well, pakiusapannalangnatin, since this is an executive session,ditona lang.


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[Laughter.]

CONGRESSMAN ABU:Takot ho akodito.

CHAIRMAN UNGAB: Congressman Teves,please.

CONGRESSMAN TEVES: When I submittedactually theres no problem in Region 7 as

of now. Our Regional Director has been very cooperativeRegion 7 so far cooperative

naman. May confusion kamingkonti because..of cou rse when we try to limit our 14

million, our submissions to the 14 million, I know for a fact that other members of

Region 7 cannot even occupy half of that, like Siquijor for example or Congressman

Camineros district for example so I submitted more and I do not know what the

rule should be on how we will be using our, our money as a whole in the Region, Mr.

Chairman. However, if the case should be, we will be restricted to the 14 million then I

would respectfully request that on our next budget for 2015, this should be rectified so

that I can accommodate the others. Secondly, of the old scholars that were hit by the

PDAF, in which I remember correctly CongresswomanAlmario was talking about the

HEDFthatwe ll be using to pay for the old scholars, the previous scholars when the PDAF

was not yet declared illegal I would like to make sure that it that will be followed.

Otherwise, again, Mr. Chairman, I would request that for the 2015 budget, it should be

rectified;our 2015 budget should make sure that this would be covered because I am

sure thatsome of them will be graduating already. They will not be able to get their

diplomas if theyre not gonna get paid, Mr. Chairman. Thats all. Thank you.

CHAIRMAN UNGAB:Yes, well take that into consideration, your honor. So afterCongressman Tevesis, Chairman Licuanan.

DR. LICUANAN:Yes,sir. Yes, I was, I was, in the middle of a thought and

thenCongressman Rufus made a correction. Actually I agree with you for the most part,

that most of the PDAFwas really direct. But we did handle some of it. Some.But we had

a system also of scholarships in CHED, a number of different types of scholars hips.

Okay, so what weresome of historical events that took place unexpected by, I think,Your Honors as well as us. We were taken quite a bit by surprise. The first was the TRO

on the PDAF and essentially, you know, CHED is the bad guy here. But you have to give

us the credit. When that happened, we immediately wrote all the SUCs and said, please

take in the PDAF scholars, if they were there from the first sem, keep them on. Ill make

it good to you,its my, it will be on , Ill find the money, Ill pay you back. My expectation


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was that the Supreme Court would reconsider for health as well as scholarships. But we

know that did not happen. So, even worse than a TRO, it was declared illegal. We

consulted Your Honors because that is very frightening. Here we are, the PDAF is illegal,

and in a way you were working out a system where it would be realigned and given to

us. Now, what are we supposed to do? We understood it to mean - and I know I do nt have the refinements of whether it s oversight or whatever - but the fact is my

understanding is that - you used the term earlier. Illegal post- intervention. So in other

words, you make the law, you dont implement it. That was also pointed out, not in

those terms, but we had a previous encounter with the Commission on Audit. They had

a very serious audit observation memo to us, report to us, that essentially the way we

werehandlingsome of thePDAFthat came to us as well as the Congressional scholarships

that we give out was different from our usualscholarships which followed the same set

of CHED guidelines. So that was even before PDAF became an issue. We said, alright. Inwhich case, we will make sure that the same guidelines prevail for all the scholarships

that we handle, including the Congressional ones. So, having already committed

ourselves to that, when this happened, when the PDAF was illegal, then you presented,

and you realigned it to various agencies. Wehad to do the right thing. We did not want

to do anything illegal, we did not want to get into trouble with COA, we did not want to

go against very, very vociferous public opinion against PDAF. So our solution was at that

time, very clear. In my mind I said, the Congressman will nominate. They can

recommend. Of course, that is their right. They do that all the time. These are their

constituents. They know, they know the situation on the ground. I already had my script

for the media when they say would, O, may PDAF pa rinano? And then you are, you

are what is the term for you are a collaborator , youre doing the same thing. At any

rate, I had to protect the agency, I had to protect the Aquino government. I had to make

sure we played by the rules. And that was all settled. You would recommend. You would

tell us exactly who your candidates were and we would apply our guidelines and so COA

will be will have no complaints,and neither would Congressman Tinio or anyone else

who wants to to squeal on you guys. [Laughter.]

So that s what we thought we were doing. But the system I guess takes time. Essentially

what was happening I think on the ground is not everyone got .The other thing that

Congresswoman Almario mentioned was that we were advertising and we were

publicizing which in a sense is true, in the sense that thats our duty. We have a lot of

grants, we have to make this public. But in our adjustment already, internally, we said

priority would be given to the recommended, thelistahan of the congressmen. Eh di


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Soso, I just beg the group to try and come up with a practical solution. I tell you. I do

not have an attitude problem here. I am really trying. And Im a reasonably competent

person. Im a reasonable manager. How am I failing here? When I am also dealing and

accepting the political reality that this is PDAF, that we are just changing for this

transition year. You have all said, Next year, dederechona kami. We are goingAnoyan, when we are negotiating, they say, Next year, hindinasa CHED yan.

Aysalamat, sabiko. Salamat.Talaga.Because it is really so much. It i s a headache. Id like

to find a solution. Please, believe me.

[Audio recording proceeds for another one hour and five minutes.]

Transcript prepared by office of Rep. Antonio [email protected]

Documents

Licuanan Appropriations August 4 2014